The Second To Last Airbender
by Wise-Lionturtle
Summary: Gale, an airbender from the Eastern Air Temple, escapes after it is attacked and destroyed by Fire Nation troops on the day The Great Comet comes.
1. Gale

**I don't own Avatar, or any of its characters.**

She was sprinting faster than she had ever been before. The hallway was collapsing in on itself right behind her. Explosions could be heard outside of the temple. She passed her room and quickly darted in attempting to locate her staff. She was terrified and had no idea what was going on.

Her mind was racing as she found her staff and darted back into the hallway she was previously running in. It was no longer collapsing, but most of the hallway lay in rubble. She headed for the nearest exit and threw her glider into the air; she jumped for it and caught onto it. Bending the air around her she flew off of the side of the mountain.

She was horrified as she looked back and saw many dragon mounted firebenders producing unrealistic amounts of fire. The Easter Air Temple was completely engulfed in flames. The sky was bright and red even though it was in the middle of the night, ominous. Frantically she sped quickly down the rest of the mountain. As she neared the ground she saw hundreds of thousands of fire nation soldiers marching in unison towards the temple.

They quickly noticed her and a komodo-rhino mounted firebender shot flames in her direction. She panicked and banked quickly to the left, dodging the blast completely. Or so she though.

The right wing of her glider was on fire. She spun quickly, attempting to blow the flames out. After a few good spins it was no longer burning. She sighed in relief, only for a moment. Another blast headed her way, too quickly for her to dodge it. She collapsed her glider and faced the blast head on. She bent a wave of air in front of her in an attempt to stop the fire blast from connecting.

She succeeded somewhat, though it did not connect she was thrown very quickly through the air and begun spiraling towards the ground. Frantically she tried to regain her stead before colliding with the solid earth. She began to slow, but she was certain now she was going to hit the ground. She did, and slid for at least twenty feet before stopping.

She ached and pained everywhere, but could not afford to stop now. She peaked up and saw the mounted firebender smirk and look back towards the temple. The troops advanced and began ascending the mountain.

_He thinks I'm dead._ She thought, somewhat relieved. She debated whether or not to continue running. She decided against it and stayed put in the ditch, watching more Fire Nation troops press forward to the temple. She was in absolute awe.

_We're at peace with the Fire Nation._ At least, she thought they were. Apparently that was wrong. _What has the Eastern Air Temple done that the Fire Nation can justify attacking us._

She couldn't trouble herself with such thoughts at the moment; the last of the troops had reached the base of the mountain and were now on their way to the top. She stood up and took off straight into the air.

_I need to head west; I need to let the other temples know what is happening! _Her friends, her life and her entire community had just been torn apart by a people she considered allies. She felt a cold shiver run down her spine as she began heading towards the closest and largest population she knew, Ba Sing Se.

"I hope it's still standing." She said outloud, considering the possibility that the Eastern Air Temple wasn't the only place attacked.

In the distance she could hear explosions and what sounded like a constant roaring. She assumed The Great Comet had something to do with the awesome power she saw the firebenders displaying. The very few firebenders she had ever met in her life had never possessed the ability to do that.

She was over the water now, which made her uneasy. She never quite much liked water and had heard rumors of strange things living in it. She decided to ascend higher in the air, better safe than sorry. She glanced back at the fading away Eastern Air Temple; she would get help no matter what the cost.

_I can't be the only one who escaped. _She concluded in an attempt to ease her worried feelings. She hadn't seen anyone else on her way down the mountain, and most of the nuns were all in the courtyard of the main temple; defending them. _I need to let the other temples know._

She sped up, hurrying through the air as fast as she could possibly go. It wouldn't be long before she ran into land and the sooner she found land, the sooner she could rest. She was tired, a rude awakening like that combined with her adrenaline pumping for at least a good twenty minutes had worn her out considerably.

After an hour of seeing nothing but the endless horizon she spotted the edge of the Earth Kingdom. She flew down and landed on the ground. She collapsed on an abandoned wooden cart and tried to rest some. She found herself having much difficulty with falling asleep, considering the events of the day she wasn't surprised.

She stood up and began walking towards Ba Sing Se. She'd been there many times before; living so close was very convenient for trade, as well as visits there. There was a convenient dirt path leading in the general direction of Ba Sing Se, which she had traveled down once before heading there during one of her visits.

As much as she was considered a nomad, she hadn't been much for traveling the world and living from place to place. She was content with mostly staying at the Eastern Air Temple and the outlying regions. She had plenty of time to explore the world after she mastered airbending.

Oh, she was already considered a "master airbender", her tattoos showed that. She was also considered to be one of the best, but she didn't want to recognize it. She felt that the second she considered herself a master, she would stop striving to get better. Obsessed with getting better, most would say.

It was getting late, she had assumed. It was still very bright outside because of the comet. She found the nearest acceptable sleeping spot, wedged her staff into the ground nearby and laid down. She was definitely exhausted and sleepy enough to fall asleep this time, and she did.

"Hey!" she heard a man's voice say. Still drowsy she looked up and saw a green blob standing a few feet in front of her. She wiped her eyes. "Hey! Wake up and get off of my hay bale!"

She came to and realized it was an Earth Kingdom citizen, probably from one of the smaller villages around Ba Sing Se. She jumped off the hay bale.

"What gives you any rig-" he was cut off by her sudden grab at his collar.

"Firebenders! They attacked the Eastern Air Temple!" she was frantically shaking the man about like a worn out ragdoll.

"What?" the man looked at her blankly.

"Firebenders, bending insane amounts of fire, they were attacking the temple!"

He stopped, and then laughed heartily.

"This isn't funny!" she said, extremely irritated at the man's response.

"That must have been some dream you had missy." He replied.

She gave him a very serious glance. "No, you don't understand. I just came from the temple. Last night the Fire Nation had troops attacking it!"

"What's your name girl, that's a pretty serious accusation."

"Gale." She spoke.

"Well, Gale, maybe you should wake up a bit before spreading that rumor around the Earth Kingdom."

"Are you blind!" she said, getting very angry. She pulled her staff out of the ground and opened it up. She pointed to the burnt part of her wing. "Proof."

"That could be from _anything_."

She didn't have time for this, she took off into the air and started heading towards Ba Sing Se. She hadn't considered the fact that nobody would believe her. It wasn't something you just brought up out of nowhere; how's the weather, caught some fish yesterday, the Fire Nation attacked my home. She was going to have to convince some of the higher ups in Ba Sing Se if she had to drag them back to the Eastern Air Temple herself.

She would be flying for quite a while before she reached Ba Sing Se, and she was starting to get hungry. She decided she didn't have time and had to stop this before it escalated into something potentially dangerous.

Gale sped in the direction of Ba Sing Se, focused on her objective.


	2. Some Unfortunate News

**I don't own Avatar, or any of its characters.**

Hours had past and Gale was getting quite tired of flying. She knew Ba Sing Se was far away, but it felt like it was taking an eternity. Perhaps it was just herself being so lost in thoughts which made it seem like that.

The flight over the water had been relatively standard, as far as flying on a glider over a long stretch of water went. She'd seen some strips of land, some animals and the occasional piece of driftwood. Oh, and lots of water… can't forget that. Ba Sing Se was still a fair distance away from being visible and she knew she was going to have to stop and at least rest first.

She quickly looked around for some place to land, and had to double take to her left when she saw something floating on the water a ways out. It was big and black; she heard sounds of steam being released and saw a trail of smoke coming from the top of it. Which meant it was moving. She lowered to a couple of feet above the water line and ventured closer.

As she got closer, she realized this monstrous thing was supposed to be a ship. It looked to be made from metal and not from the standard choice of ship composition, wood. _How does it even float?_ She was curious what this things was even doing here, perhaps some sort of new Earth Kingdom invention. She'd known that the Earth Kingdom had some… strange… and inventive minds among them.

The last time she was in Ba Sing Se she attended a public demonstration of such a mind. The man claimed to have become an airbender, she remembered.

"_Be amazed, ladies and gents." The man said, pointing to a device strapped to his back. He reached around and pulled two triggers out in front of him._

"_I have pressurized steam into these containers here, and when I release it from both containers…" he clicked a button on both triggers now in his hands. The man levitated a few feet into the air for a few seconds, then returned back down._

_ The crowd clapped and the man got a quiet smirk on his face. "Now for a better demonstration." He clicked both triggers down and shot into the air very quickly, he was gliding over the crowd doing back flips and spinning around wildly. He looked out of control._

_ Suddenly the left container of pressurized steam shot off into nowhere, leaving him with only the right one. The man screamed as he spiraled down towards a random area in the lower ring. He was never heard from again._

Well, that wasn't true. The man had been treated for severe friction burns along his back from the container, and a couple injures he obtained on re-entry. She laughed.

She was nearing the giant ship when she came to a sudden realization. It was sporting a flag, red and black. The Fire Nation emblem was embroidered on the flag, and several Fire Nation banners were along the edges of the ship. She silently cursed herself and lowered closer to the water. Maybe she could find out what was happening from some of the ship's crewman. Stealthily, of course.

She glided in slowly and grabbed on to the edge of the lower deck of the ship; securing her staff on her back. She looked up past above the edge. Nobody was on the deck and she could hear almost no noise. There was a low rumble coming from inside the cabin. Sighing, she silently scooted across the edge of the ship, making her way to where the entrance to the lower parts of the ship. She was almost there when suddenly the cabin door burst open and what appeared to be three very… intoxicated… Fire Nation soldiers walked onto the deck. They were laughing and having a good time.

"Oh man…. That was a good one." One of the men had said as he came out.

The men now stopped and were looking off the front of the boat, towards the sun. The man who spoke earlier held up a stein he was using.

"Firebenders four, airbenders zero." He smiled and looked at his crewmates, who raised their cups in the air, knocked them together and then proceeded to down the rest of their contents.

Gale thought for a moment_. Firebenders four, did they attack the other nations as well? No, that couldn't be it, unless they were really bad at counting. He had also said airbenders zero, specifically airbenders. What did we have four of that the Fire Nation gained on us?_

Her heart skipped a beat; she suddenly realized it, the other air temples. There were four of them. No, that couldn't possibly be it. There were way too many Fire Nation troops at the Eastern Air Temple, and there was no way the other nations wouldn't know if all four air temples were attacked.

Silently, she dismounted from the edge of the ship and flew towards Ba Sing Se. It was so quiet and her mind was so quiet. She was stunned, her eyes were wide and she didn't dare think of what was on her mind, as difficult as that was. She just kept flying; she'd get to Ba Sing Se and get help before the other temples were attacked.

Hours passed and it was nearing dark; Gale found herself approaching a decent sized, deserted island. She saw a few animals here and there, but they didn't bother her. She flew straight towards the center of the island; where there was a hexagon carved into the island's ground. She assumed there were people living on the island at some point.

When she landed, the ground was smooth and she decided this would be a good place to rest. She lay down on the ground and tried to go asleep, finding her mind traveling to dark places.

_What if I really am the last airbender? _She asked herself, feeling tears coming on. _There was no way anyone else could have survived at the Eastern Air Temple. _She had to accept that fact. Her friends and teachers were… dead.

She began to cry, laying in the fetal position. She felt so alone and lost thinking of all the friendly faces and accepting hands she would never get to see again. She felt angry, angrier than she had ever felt before. She needed revenge, she wanted revenge; she wanted to tear every Fire Nation soldier limb from limb.

She calmed herself, knowing that rage and revenge was a terrible path to follow. The nuns had taught her better than that. She sat up and tried to meditate. Meditation always calmed her mind, as it was supposed to.

She was minutes in to meditating with a clear mind, when images flashed in her head of thousands of advancing Fire Nation soldiers, dragon mounted firebenders ruthlessly attacking innocent and defenseless people.

She screamed and slammed her fist into the earth under her. Regardless of her teachings, this was a path she decided she was going to follow. It was too difficult to put on a happy face and pretend everything was absolutely fine. It was most certainly not. If she found out the other temples had been attacked and… destroyed…

She made a silent vow to herself. "I will personally see to it that the Fire Lord pays for this..." She whispered to herself, tears streaming down her face. "…even if it consumes me." This was not like an airbender.

She quietly cried herself to sleep, dreaming of her friends back at the Eastern Air Temple.


End file.
